Focus Enhancements Receives FCC Approval For UWB Modulation

CAMPBELL, CA—Focus Enhancements, Inc. announced that it has received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its ultrawideband (UWB) DS-OFDM™ modulation scheme. This approval was granted without waiver restrictions that are currently being applied to the WiMedia Standard UWB technology.

DS-OFDM UWB radios will be able to use all or any part of the 3.1-to-10.6-GHz spectrum allocated by the FCC. UWB rates and distances will be significantly increased using DS-OFDM architecture.

"While several WiMedia companies have received FCC approval for UWB technology, none have done so without waiver—until now," says Tom Hamilton, executive vice president and general manager of Focus Enhancements' semiconductor group. "Focus Enhancements has the FCC approval necessary to accomplish its goal to deliver longer distances and faster wireless transfer rates for manufacturers of consumer electronics and personal-computer peripherals used worldwide."

"The ability to use DS-OFDM has several significant advantages in the UWB space," comments Michael Ngo, vice president of engineering of Focus Enhancements' semiconductor group. "In the US, Talaria™, our wireless UWB technology which uses DSOFDM, will bed able to access all 7 GHz of the available UWB spectrum. In Europe, where it looks like UWB will be restricted to the frequency range between 6 GHz and 10 GHz, we will bed able to use all 4 GHz of the allocated frequency; and in Japan, we can use all3 GHz allocated between 7 GHz and 10 GHz."

UWB is an inherently low-power radio technology where power levels are restricted to the level of noise typically emitted by a laptop computer. Performance of UWB radios will be dependent on the amount of the allocated spectrum utilized. DS-OFDM is allowed to occupy the entire allocated spectrum as defined by international regulatory bodies.

Focus Enhancements' Talaria UWB wireless technology embraces and integrates both WiMedia Standard MB-OFDM modulation and its own DS-OFDM modulation. Talaria integrates both techniques into one radio which can talk to both WiMedia and DSOFDM devices simultaneously.